| OCR Text |
Show 1 STATE PENITEITriARY : IS IT FOR ALIENS Proffer by Governor and Warden Is Refused by-War by-War Prison Head. i I REGULATIONS FORBID ; Civilians, No Matter How " Dangerous, to Be Held j in Military Camp. t i Because, in the eyes of federal law, civilian enemy aliens ordered interned on - presidential warrants for the period of ', the war are not criminals and therefore ; not subject to incarceration in penal Institutions, In-stitutions, the offer of Governor Bam- ' berger and the warden of the Utah penl-i penl-i tentiary to place a section of the state I penitentiary at the disposal of the war prison commandant for safekeeping of ' the bomb-making and tunnel-digging : prisoners at Fort Douglas has been de-dined. de-dined. , , Offer of the nee of a portion of the state prison in which to hold some of the ' ! unrulv and most dangerous prisoners now in the civilian section of the Third war prison camp at Fort Douglas was made '; to Colonel George L. Byram, prison com- t mandant. bv Governor Bamberger recently re-cently when" two bombs had been discov- : ered in the compound and several tunnels I had been found. ' The governor and "Warden George ' Btorrs took Colonel Byram to the state prison and showed him the section which ' they offered free of charge, permitting him to establish his own guards and to r conduct the place in accordance with his s own regulations. ".' The civilian enemies held at Fort Doug-t Doug-t las have not been tried or convicted of any penal offense; they are merely held-on held-on presidential warrants as dangerous i enemy aliens. They constitute a unique class of prisoners whose status is difficult dif-ficult to define. They are not military i prisoners of war, nor are they penal prisoners. Thev are civil prisoners of i war, gathered by the department of jus-J jus-J tice merely as dangerous aliens and de-3 de-3 talned to prevent them engaging in ac-E ac-E tivitles that would be dangerous and in-i in-i jurlous to the government while it is at war. No Questions Asked. I Necessity for holding such men in de- tention or under surveillance has resulted J in their being sent to the war prison c camps for safekeeping. The department of justice causes the arrest and merely sends the prisoner to the camp with instructions in-structions to hold him safely. The prison camp accepts him ana asks no ques-a ques-a tions. j The war camp at Fort Douglas is apparently ap-parently the chief camp for civilian en-. en-. emv aliens in the country, as all pris- oners of this class from west of the , Mississippi river are sent here and also a large number from the east Under this arrangement, the civilian colony at the local camp is growing rapidly. There i are now nearly 250 civilian alien enemies confined within the civilian section of the compound and almost daily there are new arrivals. This class of prisoner has already al-ready demonstrated that he is a dangerous danger-ous and desperate enemy, whose sole thought is escape by any means, fair or foul. The problem of handling this an-: an-: archistic, German, L W. W. class of en- 1 emies is growing more serious every day. 2 By the manufacture of bombs and in : other ways, they have indicated they will s go to anv lengths in the destruction of 1 life and property to escape, and their j countless tunnels prove their uncheck-able uncheck-able determination to get out if possible. : Practically all of the troublesome civilians held in the local camp are known to be members of the I. W. W. organiza- 1 tion, but they are German I. W. W.'s. 3 An impression has gained credence in ' Salt Lake and vicinity that there are 3 Americans and American I. "W. W.'s im-' im-' prisoned in the war camp at Fort Douglas. Doug-las. This is not the case. Even man - In the war prison camp is a subject of 3 the kaiser and a citizen of Germany, otherwise he could not be held there. ' Women Not Included. Onlv citizens of countries with which i the United States is at war are subject i lo internment in the war prison camps. ; The same rule applies to civilian enemies, it is explained by the authorities. The ( enemy alien act under which such dan- gerous persons may be arrested and in-t in-t temed upon presidential warrant applies only to citizens of countries with which i the" United States is at war. This act also applies only to males over the age of 14 years. Women are not included, though" there is now pending before congress con-gress a proposed law to include women of the enemy alien class, i It is pointed out. further, that a male of German birth, but a naturalized citizen citi-zen of the United States, who committed some act of disloyalty to this government, govern-ment, could not be interned and held in a war prison camp lawfully, because of the right guaranteed him by the constitution consti-tution of this country of a trial in court. , He would have to be tried upon a spe- clflc charge, and, if convicted, would be sent to a federal penal Institution, not to a war prison or internment camp. The same applies to ail citizens of this country', coun-try', whether born or naturalized citizens. And, under the law as it now stands, this rule applies to ail women, whether enemy aliens or citizens. Tie cause of this, Autrusta Minnie Deck-man, Deck-man, admittedly a German subject, if convicted on the charge of violating the federal espionage act, under which she is now being held in the county jail here, will be subject to imprisonment in federal fed-eral prison, and not to detention in a war or internment camp. The same is true in the case of the Rev. B. Henry Jeesmann, a naturalized A men can of German birth. If he is convicted. I Immune From Punishment. The evident intent of some of the civilian prisoners at Fort Douglas to destroy de-stroy life and property with the bombs which they are manufacturing and their repeated attempts to escape have caused people in Salt Lake to wonder why some of them are not executed or severely punished for their conduct. ' The terms of The Hague treaty governing gov-erning the treatment of prisoners of war, which tho United states 1b religiously living liv-ing up to the letter, bar this. Under this treaty an attempt to escape from a prison camp may be stopped by wounding or killing a prisoner, "if necessary," and an organized effort to fsapo may he put iown by armed force, "if necessary," says the treaty. This placoH the responsibility of deciding decid-ing the queHtlon ' of "neceKity" for wounding or killing a prisoner upon the officer In command at the time and place of the attempt to escape, and, imlfs a prisoner is caught in the act of (--Heaping ;ind resists attempts to slop lilm, his woundfng or killing is in violation of the treaty provisions. As a matter of fact, treaty provisions are such that perhaps the rnwt severe punishment which can bo meted out. for attempts to fHi'n p, mjch as t hose ha ve leeri at Fort Douglas, Is solllnrv con-, con-, flnemenf on a bread and water diet for ' a limited period. In fact, the Unlled Rtates ho strictly lives up to the letter hw) spirit of Us treaties and irt so particular to be hu-rn;tno hu-rn;tno In Us treatment of prisoner of v. ; r th;i t the prisoners, of t ho civilian class, take advnntage of the leniency. |
